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THE  NAT' 


9 


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GXj  §”1 X 


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LETTER  OF  SUBMITTAL. 


Smithsonian  Instlti 
Washington , I).  6'.,  February  1896 


To  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  : 

In  accordance  with  the  act  of  incorporation  of  the  American 
Historical  Association,  approved  January  4,  18S9, 1 have  the 
honor  to  submit  to  Congress  the  annual  report  of  said  associa- 
tion for  the  year  1S95. 

I have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  your . obedient 
servant, 


7^2- 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 

American  Historical  Association, 

Washington , I).  C.,  February  10,  1896. 

Sir:  In  compliance  with  the  act  of  incorporation  of  the 
American  Historical  Association,  approved  January  I,  1889, 
which  requires  that  “said  association  shall  report  annually  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  concerning  its 
proceedings  and  the  condition  of  historical  study  in  America,” 
I have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  my  general  report  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  American  Historical  Association  at  their 
eleventh  annual  meeting,  held  in  Washington.  D.  C.,  Decem- 
ber 26-27, 1895.  The  report  is  prefaced  by  a list  of  officers  for 
1S96,  a table  of  contents,  and  a general  summary  of  proceed 
ngs  by  the  secretary.  Then  follows  the  inaugural  address  by 
the  president  of  the  association,  Hon.  George  T.  Hoar,  with 
most  of  the  papers  that  were  presented  at  the  meeting.  In 
order  to  show  the  condition  and  progress  of  historical  studies 
in  America  a valuable  bibliography  is  appended,  representing 
the  work  of  the  historical  societies  of  the  various  States  during 
the  last  hundred  years. 

Very  respectfully, 

Herbert  B.  Adams, 

Secretary. 

I)r.  S.  P.  Langley, 

Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 


AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 

Organized  at  Saratoga,  N.  Y.,  September  10,  1884. 


OFFICERS  FOR  1896. 


President : 

RICHARD  S.  STORES,  D.  D.,  LL.D., 

Brooklyn,  X.  Y. 

AT ce-Presi  dents : 

JAMES  SCHOULER,  LL.  !>., 

Boston,  Mass. 

GEORGE  P.  FISHER,  D.D.,  LL.  I)., 

Professor  in  Yale  University . 

Secretary : 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D., 

Professor  of  History,  Johns  Hopkins  'University,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Assistant  Secretary  and  Curator : 

A.  HOWARD  CLARK, 

Curator  of  the  Historical  Collections,  Smithsonian  Institution, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Treasurer : 

CLARENCE  WINTHROP  BOWEN,  PR.  D., 

130  Fulton  street,  Xew  York. 

Executive  Council: 

(In  addition  to  the  above-named  officers.) 

Hon.  ANDREW  D.  WHITE,  LL.  D..  L.  H.  D., 

Ithaca,  X.  Y. 

JUSTIN  WINSOR,  LL.  D., 

Cambridge,  Mass. 

CHARLES  KENDALL  ADAMS,  LL.  D., 

President  University  of  Wisconsin,  Madison. 

Hon.  WILLIAM  WIRT  HENRY, 

Richmond,  Va. 

JAMES  B.  ANGELL,  LL.  D.; 

President  of  the  University  of  Michigan. 

HENRY  ADAMS, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Hon.  GEORGE  F.  HOAR, 

Worcester,  Mass. 

G.  BROWN  GOODE,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D., 

Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  in  charge  of  the 
National  Museum. 

GEORGE  B.  ADAMS, 

Professor  of  History,  Yale  University. 


VII 


VIII 


AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 


H.  MORSE  STEPHENS, 

Professor  of  History,  Cornell  University. 

F.  J.  TURNER,  Ph.D., 

Professor  of  History,  University  of  Wisconsin. 

Ex-Presidents : 

Hon.  ANDREW  D.  WHITE,  LL.  D.,  L.  H.  D.,  1884-85. 
tHon.  GEORGE  BANCROFT,  LL.  D.,  1885-86. 

JUSTIN  WINSOR,  LL.  D.,  1886-87. 
t WILLIAM  F.  POOLE,  LL.  D.,  1887-88. 

CHARLES  KENDALL  ADAMS,  LL.  D.,  1888-89. 
t Hon.  .JOHN  JAY,  LL.  D.,  1889-90. 

Hon.  WILLIAM  WIRT  HENRY,  1890-91. 

JAMES  B.  ANGELL,  LL.  D.,  1891-93. 

HENRY  ADAMS,  1893-94. 

Hon.  GEORGE  F.  HOAR,  LL.  D.,  1894-95. 
Ex-Vice-Presidents : 

JUSTIN  WINSOR,  LL.  D.,  1884-86. 

CHARLES  KENDALL  ADAMS,  LL.  D.,  1884-88. 
t WILLIAM  F.  POOLE,  LL.  D.,  1886-87. 

tHon.  JOHN  JAY,  LL.  D.,  1887-89. 

Hon.  WILLIAM  WIRT  HENRY,  1888-90. 

JAMES  B.  ANGELL,  LL.  D.,  1889-91. 

HENRY  ADAMS,  1890-93. 

EDWARD  G.  MASON,  1891-93. 

Hon.  GEORGE  F.  PIOAR,  LL.  D.,  1894-95. 

Secretaries : 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D.,  1884- 
A.  HOWARD  CLARK,  1889- 
Treasurer  : 

CLARENCE  WINTHROP  BOWEN,  Ph.D.,  1884- 
Executive  Council : 

( In  addition  to  the  above-named  officers.) 

WILLIAM  B.  WEEDEN,  A.M.,  1884-86. 
t CHARLES  DEANE,  LL.  D.,  1884-87. 

Prof.  MOSES  COIT  TYLER,  LL.  D.,  L.  H.  D.,  1884-85. 

Prof.  EPHRAIM  EMERTON,  1884-85. 

Prof.  FRANKLIN  B.  DEXTER,  1885-87. 
t Prof.  WILLIAM  F.  ALLEN,  1885-87. 

Hon.  WILLIAM  WIRT  HENRY,  1886-88. 
tHon.  RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES,  LL.  D.,  1887-88 
Prof.  JOHN  W.  BURGESS,  1887-91. 

Prof.  ARTHUR  M.  WHEELER,  1887-89. 

Prof.  GEORGE  P.  FISHER,  D.  D„  LL.  D.,  1888-91. 

G.  BROWN  GOODE,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D.,  1889- 
JOIIN  GEORGE  BOURINOT,  LL.  D.,  D.  C.L.,  1889-94. 

Prof.  JOHN  BACH  McMASTER,  1891-94. 

Prof.  GEORGE  B.  ADAMS.  1891- 

Tlie.  term  of  olilce  is  indicated  Ijy  the  dates  following  the  name.  Deceased  officers  are 
marked  thus  t. 


IV—  THE  SURROUNDINGS  AND  SITE  OF  RALEIGH'S  COLONY. 


By  TALCOTT  WILLIAMS, 
OF  PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


45 


THE  SURROUNDINGS  AND  SITE  OF  RALEIGH'S  COLONY. 


By  Talcott  Williams. 


A strange  Nemesis  lias  attended  every  original  site  of  coloni- 
zation on  tlie  North  American  continent.  Not  one  has  waxed 
great  and  prospered.  Most  stand  to-day  desolate.  Plymouth 
is  but  a village.  The  island  which  the  Dutch  first  occupied 
below  Albany  is  as  empty  of  men  as  when  the  first  blockhouse 
was  built  upon  it.  Jamestown  is  an  open  field.  First  and 
earliest  of  all,  the  scene  of  Raleigh’s  colony,  Roanoke  Island, 
has  to-day  a population  probably  not  much  larger  than  when 
it  was  discovered,  and  the  site  of  the  colony  itself  has  held  no 
dwelling  for  three  centuries. 

The  occupation  of  civilized  man  has  left  its  visible  mark  and 
change  on  most  of  our  coast,  but  the  shores  of  the  two  great 
sounds  of  North  Carolina,  Albemarle  and  Pamlico,  and  the 
various  islands  which  separate  them  from  the  ocean — the 
waters  which  first  received  English  keels  and  the  lands  which 
were  first  occupied  by  English-speaking  men — are  to-day,  for 
leagues  together,  as  they  were  first  seen.  Nothing  has  altered. 
The  long,  low  island,  pictured  by  De  Bry  from  White’s  draw- 
ing is  still  a better  sketch  of  Roanoke  than  any  published 
since — far  superior  to  the  somewhat  ridiculous  print  repeated 
in  school  histories  from  a modern  magazine.1  The  rows  of 
white  swan  still  rise  at  a shot  as  they  rose  at  the  report  of 
Barlowe’s  arquebus.  The  flat  line  of  the  horizon,  the  amazing 
luxuriance  of  vegetation  (1,800  species  in  a single  pocoson2), 
the  wilderness  of  bird  life,  the  wine-colored  waters  of  Albe- 
marle, the  shifting  shoals  which  connect  it  with  Pamlico,  the 
tempestuous  ocean  without  and  the  calm  sounds  within — these 
all  still  repeat  in  minute  detail  the  narratives  of  Lane,  of 
Hariot,  of  Amadas  and  of  Barlowe,  and  the  sketches  of  John 
White. 


1 Harper’s  New  Monthly  Magazine,  20:  730  (May,  1860),  “Loungings  in  the 
footprints  of  the  pioneers,”  by  Edward  C.  Bruce. 

2Goldtliwaite’s  Geographical  Magazine,  11:373  (May,  1892),  “Physiog- 
raphy of  a pocoson,”  by  Charles  Hallock. 


47 


48 


AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 


This  permanence  of  physical  conditions,  untouched  and 
unchauged  by  man,  lends  a singular  interest  to  this  forgotten 
corner  of  the  continent  and  sheds  a special  illumination  on  the 
narratives  of  the  expeditions  which  we  owe  chiefly  to  the  care 
of  Hakluyt.  History  the  colony  of  lialeigh  has  had  in  abun- 
dant measure,  particularly  in  the  last  decade,  the  last  and 
fullest  account  having  beenread  before  the  American  Historical 
Association  by  Hr.  Stephen  Beauregard  Weeks  at  its  meeting 
in  December,  1S90.1  Into  the  narrative  of  the  colony  which 
begins  with  the  voyage  of  Amadas  andBarlowein  15842,  ends 
with  the  return  of  White  in  1590,  and  is  prolonged  by  the 
search  for  the  colony  in  1002,  1008,  and  1010,  I do  not  propose 
to  enter;  but  I have  twice  devoted  the  scanty  recreation  of  a 
journalist  to  a visit  and  examination  of  the  site,  once  in  No- 
vember, 1887,  and  again  in  November  and  December  of  this 
year ; I have  sailed  over  the  waters  of  the  region  in  an  open  boat 
from  Edenton  to  Hatteras  and  I have  given  the  physical  con- 
ditions of  the  region  and  the  present  state  of  its  remains  a 
direct  and  practical  examination  with  sail,  lead,  and  spade, 
supplemented  by  a study  of  the  physiography  of  the  region 
which  may,  I trust,  collectively  throw  light  on  the  written  record. 
For  it  can  not  be  too  often  repeated  or  too  well  remembered 
that  the  current  of  history  flows  in  channels  furnished  by  the 
earth’s  surface  and  that  every  narrative,  however  full,  however 
accurate,  however  near,  and  however  remote,  needs  for  its  full 
comprehension  the  study  of  the  region  in  which  its  events  took 
place,  its  institutions  were  formed,  its  greater  figures  produced, 
and  its  battles  decided.  Without  this  background  and  foun- 
dation, history  is  but  a succession  of  shadowy  and  shifting- 
scenes  “ whose  worth’s  unknown  although  their  height  be 
taken.” 

1 American  Historical  Association  V : 107.  The  Lost  Colony  of  Roanoke: 
Its  Fate  and  Survival  by  Prof.  Stephen  Beauregard  Weeks.  Magazine  of 
Am.  History,  29 : 459May-June,  1893.  Raleigh’s  New  Fort  in  Virginia,  1585, 
by  Edward  Graham  Daves.  New  England  Magazine,  N.  S.,  11:565,  Jan- 
uary, 1895.  Raleigh’s  Lost  Colony,  by  James  Phinney  Baxter.  Canadian 
Magazine,  4:500,  April,  1895,  Lost  Colony  of  Roanoke,  by  E.  Y.  Wilson. 

2 Philip  Amadas  and  Arthur  Barlowe  sailed  in  1584,  and  discovered 
Roanoke  and  the  Carolina  sounds.  Sir  Richard  Grenville  in  1585  landed 
over  100  persons  on  the  island  who  were  brought  back  by  Drake  in  1586. 
In  the  same  year  Sir  Richard  Grenville  left  15  persons  on  the  island  who 
were  all  slain  by  the  Indians.  Raleigh’s  second  colony,  117  souls,  went  out 
in  1587,  and  settled  at  Roanoke.  When  the  island  was  visited  in  1590  by 
Ralph  Lane,  their  governor,  all  had  disappeared,  and  it  is  about  the 
deserted  site  that  there  centers  the  interest  which  still  attaches  to  Roanoke 
and  the  first  English  colony  on  this  continent. 


SURROUNDINGS  AND  SITE  OF  RALEIGH’S  COLONY.  49 

The  long'  rampart  of  sandy  islands  which  shut  in  the  two 
sounds  of  .North  Carolina,  between  which  lies  the  island  of 
Roanoke,  constitutes,  taken  together,  the  physical  feature  on 
the  Atlantic  Coast,  whose  conditions  have  changed  less  and 
whose  hydrography  has  altered  more  than  any  stretch  as  long 
on  the  continent.  Now,  as  then,  two  rivers,  the  Roanoke  and 
the  Neuse,  and  numerous  lesser  streams,  -pour  their  waters 
into  these  shallow  sounds.1  Now,  as  then  triple  forces,  the 
Gulf  Stream,  the  prevailing  northeast  and  southwest  winds, 
and  these  rivers,  heap  these  sand-bars  and  fill  with  silt  the 
space  behind  them.  But  while  this  process,  in  iirogress  from 
the  earliest  days  of  the  current  emergence  of  the  coast  along 
the  line  of  the  Cincinnati  upheaval,  produces  the  same  condi- 
tions and  leaves  the  same  general  outline  of  coast  find  the 
same  low  horizon  of  sand-dune  swamp  and  wooded  islands, 
the  outlines  of  the  coast  steadily  alter  as  land  and  sand  en- 
croach on  the  sea.  Nowhere  else  are  general  outlines  more 
permanent.  Nowhere  else  are  specific  boundaries  and  physical 
features  more  transitory.  Much  ingenuity  has  been  expended, 
particularly  by  those  who  have  never  visited  the  region,  in 
determining  the  exact  course  followed  by  the  voyagers  of  three 
centuries  ago ; but  as  it  is  morally  certain  that  no  one  of  the 
inlets  now  open  was  open  then,  with  possibly  a dubious  excep- 
tion at  the  southern  end  in  Ocracoke — if  this  was  Wokokok — 
the  attempt  to  decide  this  question  absolutely  is  a fruitless 
labor.  The  utmost  which  can  be  done  is  to  reach  approximate 
conclusions. 

In  our  own  brief  day,  Hatteras — opened  in  1846 ; in  1860  the 
accepted  gateway  of  the  entire  system  of  sounds — has  begun 
to  close,  and  can  no  longer  be  entered  even  by  schooners  of 
moderate  size.  Without  the  coast,  off  Hatteras,  Diamond 
Shoals  alter  so  rapidly  that  their  rapid  changes  have  thus 
far  baffled  the  most  astute  and  experienced  of  light- house 
builders  and  submarine  engineers,  Capt.  John  F.  Anderson, 
who,  in  1892,  lost  some  $100,000,  by  the  destruction  of  his 
caisson,  to  learn  that  the  soundings  of  one  year  on  this  tem- 
pestuous elbow  of  the  continent  are  all  altered  by  the  storms 
of  the  next  winter.  Steadily  the  winds  carry  the  sands  grind- 
ing along  the  coast  from  Cape  Cod  to  Florida,  until  the  char- 
acteristic detritus  of  the  New  England  coast  can  be  traced  a 

'The  area  of  these  streams  is:  Neuse  5,299  and  Roanoke  9,237  square 
miles.  The  area  of  the  sounds  is  approximately  3,500  square  miles. 

H.  Doc.  291 4 


50 


AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 


thousand  miles  south;  steadily  the  ocean  currents  and  storms 
together  dig  breaches  in  the  sandy  rampart,  and  as  steadily 
are  they  filled  by  the  southward  march  of  sand  and  the  out- 
ward flow  of  tluviatile  deposits;  but  in  no  ten  years  together 
do  these  varying  conditions  produce  exactly  the  same  result 
in  bar,  inlet,  and  channel.  When  it  is  once  clearly  understood 
that  inlets  have  been  and  still  are  opening  and  closing,  like 
doors  on  a hotel  corridor,  along  the  entire  line  of  this  coast  for 
three  centuries,  it  will  be  seen  what  a fruitless  labor  it  is  to 
endeavor  to  determine  by  exactly  which  inlet  Amadas,  Bar- 
lowe,  and  their  successors  entered  by  applying  the  uncertain 
record  of  the  successive  navigators  from  1584  to  1590  to  our 
still  more  uncertain  knowledge  of  the  region  then  and 
our  none  too  certain  acquaintance  with  it  now.  Very  nearly 
every  inlet1 2  now  upon  our  maps  has  been  credited  with  furnish- 
ing an  entrance  to  the  voyagers  during  the  period,  now 
approaching  two  centuries,  in  which  the  subject  has  been 
under  active  discussion.  But  of  the  ten  inlets  which  have 
been  open  at  intervals  into  these  sounds  since  1580,  only  one, 
Ocracoke,  has  been  open  through  that  period,  and  it  is  not 
improbable  that  this  was  closed  during  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century  from  a reference  made  to  its  navigation.3 

1 The  creation  of  the  beaches  and  tidal  marshes  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  has 
been  luminously  discussed  by  Prof.  Nathaniel  Southgate  Shaler.  (Report 
United  States  Geological  Survey,  X,  147,  and  in  National  Geographic  Mon- 
ographs, I,  137-168.) 

2Beginning  at  the  north  the  varying  authorities  are:  Byrd,  opposite 
Collidon  Island,  now  Collington  Island;  Welsh  and  Weeks,  Caffeys  Inlet; 
Hawks  and  Dover,  New  Inlet ; Ruffin,  Roanoke  Inlet ; Bancroft,  Abort,  and 
Moore,  Ocracoke,  identified  with  Wokokok.  Of  these  the  last  appear  to 
me  the  least  and  the  first  the  most  probable.  The  three  principal  dis- 
cussions of  the  physiography  of  this  region  in  connection  with  this  subject 
are : 

Bulletin  of  the  Essex  Institute,  XVII,  Nos.  1-3.  An  account  of  the  cut- 
ting through  of  Hatteras  Inlet,  North  Carolina,  September  7,  1846;  also 
through  which  inlet  did  the  English  adventurers  of  1584  enter  the  sounds 
of  North  Carolina,  and  some  changes  in  the  coast  line  since  their  time,  by 
William  L.  Welsh. 

Appendix  G of  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Chief  of  Engineers  for  1876, 
being  annual  report  upon  the  improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  Virginia,  and.  North  Carolina,  in  charge  of  S.T.  Abert, 
United  States  civil  engineer. 

Ex.  Doc.  H.  R.,  Forty-first  Congress,  third  session  (January  18,  1871), 
Engineers’  Report  on  Certain  Rivers  and  Harbors,  contains,  pp.  52-59, 
report  of  J.  H.  Simpson,  colonel  engineers  and  brevet  brigadier-general, 
United  States  Army,  on  Roanoke  Inlet  and  its  proposed  reopening. 

Mr.  Welsh’s  contribution,  while  brief,  is  the  most  important  of  all,  because 
it  was  the  first  to  grasp  the  fact  of  frequent  changes  and  to  note  that  “ Hat- 
arask”  and  “ Hatteras”  are  miles  apart.  Mr.  Abert’s  report  is  the  fullest 


SURROUNDINGS  AND  SITE  OF  RALEIGH’S  COLONY  51 


While  a specmc  determination  of  all  the  places  and  inlets 
mentioned  in  these  early  itineraries  is  now  impossible,  a gen- 
eral comprehension  of  the  coast  as  they  found  it  is  as  important 
and  perhaps  more  instructive.  To-day  there  is  no  entrance  to 
the  sounds  north  of  Oregon  Inlet,  fast  tilling,  and  there  will 
soon  be  none  above  Ocracoke,  at  present  the  only  practicable 
shiii  channel.  Both  sounds  have  made  considerable  progress 
toward  their  ultimate  destiny  of  land-locked  waters  slowly  fill- 
ing up  to  the  condition  of  the  Dismal  Swamp,  or,  better,  drained 
and  turned  into  fertile  lands.  In  Byrd’s  time  the  most  north- 
ern arm  of  these  sounds,  Currituck,1  could  be  entered  by  vessels 

and  most  satisfactory  discussion  of  the  physical  condition  of  the  region, 
moved  by  the  not  unnatural  circumstance  that  he  was  a better  engineer 
than  historian,  and  failed  to  note  past  changes  while  studying  the  current 
situation.  Colonel  Simpson’s  paper  summarizes  the  physical  history  of  the 
region  immediately  about  and  opposite  Roanoke  Islaud.  His  conclusion 
that  the  voyagers  could  not  have  entered  at  Roanoke  Inlet  (now  Nags 
Head)  is  probably  accurate,  but  this  omits  the  still  more  important  fact 
that  an  inlet  undoubtedly  existed  just  above  Nags  Head  by  which  they 
did  in  all  probability  enter. 

Nearly  every  historian  of  North  Carolina  has  made  an  attempt  to  answer 
the  geographical  questions  involved  in  the  accounts  of  these  voyages,  most 
of  them  by  resorting  to  the  charts  of  their  own  day,  with  little  comprehen- 
sion of  the  physical  history  of  the  region,  its  unceasing  change,  and  its 
early  condition.  The  first  indispensable  apparatus  for  the  study  of  this 
problem  are  the  early  narratives,  the  charts  of  White  and  Hariot,  and  the 
Coast  Survey  charts  of  the  region.  The  gap  between  the  outline  of  1586 
and  the  coast  as  it  is  to-day  can  only  be  filled  by  a careful  study  of  inter- 
vening charts,  nearly  every  one  of  which  throws  some  light  on  the  problem. 
These  consist  of  three  classes — the  outline  sketches  of  early  navigators 
extending  over  the  first  century,  colonial  surveys  over  the  next  century, 
and  modern  charts  over  the  past  one  hundred  years.  The  first  have  become 
familiar  in  facsimile,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  specify  them.  Exact  knowl- 
edge begins  with  the  accounts  and  maps  of  John  Lawson,  surveyor-general, 
1708,  and  William  Bju'd,  of  Westover.  Wimbler,  1730,  republished  by  act 
of  Parliament,  and  Emanuel  Rowen,  1763,  are  the  most  important  of  the 
colonial  charts.  Modern  surveys  and  charts  may  be  fairly  said  to  begin 
with  Daniel  Dunbibin,  1764.  This  was  superseded  by  the  State  surveys 
made  with  a view  to  a canal  in  the  early  years  of  the  century.  (Murphey, 
1816,  and  Hamilton  Fuller,  1818;  North  American  Review,  January,  1821.) 
The  reports  of  army  engineers  begin  with  that  of  Col.  W.  K Armistead, 
December  15, 1820,  and  come  down  to  the  present  time.  The  Coast  Survey 
charts  cover  the  last  half  century,  and  their  comparison  is  important. 

Currituck  Inlet  was  closed  in  1828  (Ruffin,  116),  but  countless  maps 
still  carry  it,  and  even  the  “Map  of  the  United  States  and  Territories,” 
1882,  issued  by  the  Land  Office,  has  the  familiar  gap  for  Currituck  Inlet. 
There  is  probably  nothing  so  lasting  as  a geographical  error,  except  a 
fictitious  historical  anecdote. 


52 


AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 


drawing  10  feet,  and  there  was  a succession  of  inlets  along  the 
coast.  Earlier  the  number  of  inlets  was  still  greater.  The  bear- 
ings of  the  Long  Shoal  indicate  its  early  existence  under  condi- 
tions similar  to  those  which  now  create  the  Diamond  Shoal. 

The  general  coast  line  has  probably  been  traveling  to  the 
eastward,  working  out  under  aeriel  and  aquatic  influences,  mod- 
ified by  the  slow  secular  change  which  once  elevated  and  is 
now  probably  depressing  the  entire  region.  During  the  cen- 
tury in  which  we  have  definite  information  we  know  that  the 
inlets  have  been  closing  from  north  to  south,  and  the  waters 
just  inside  of  the  bars  steadily  shoaling.  The  first  maps  show 
scattered  and  not  continuous  islands.1  Even  White’s  map, 
which  is  extraordinarily  accurate,  shows  the  inclosing  islands 
wider  and  the  inlets  broader  than  to-day. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  in  1654  there  were  a series  of 
islands  of  considerable  size,  separated  by  inlets,  which,  at 
Trinity  Harbor,  just  north  of  Roanoke,  gave  a broad  entrance 
and  an  anchorage  safe  from  any  but  southeast  winds,  and 
represented  now  by  the  fresh-water  lakes  north  of  Nags 
Head,  the  channels  about  Collington  Island,  and  the  remains 
and  memory  of  Caffeys  Inlet,  closed  in  1800,  and  Roanoke, 
dosed  in  1806.  In  all  the  maps  of  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury there  were  uot  one  but  two  inlets  here,  or  one  divided  by 
an  island,  giving  wider  and  easier  access  than  at  any  other 
point.2  In  addition,  while  the  inlets  below  and  near  Cape  Hat- 
teras  are  shut  off  from  ocean  approach  by  shoals  extending 
far  to  sea,  of  which  early  mention  is  made,3  these  shoals  dis- 
appear north  of  the  turn  of  the  cape.  Once  inside  Ocracoke, 
also,  while  there  is  a broad  stretch  of  water  apparent,  the 
expanse  is  shallow,  the  channel  through  the  swash  inside  is 
not  to  be  readily  found,  and  this  passed,  the  work  of  finding 
a way  even  for  a pinnace  from  the  south  to  Roanoke  Island 
would  not  be  easy.  Inside  and  outside,  therefore,  the  advan- 
tages of  navigation  are  all  in  favor  of  an  entrance  north  of 
Roanoke  and  against  an  entrance  below. 

1 This  is  particularly  true  of  a map  of  1666  (Winsor,  v,  338),  Morden, 
1687,  and  Powers,  1763,  and  John  Mitchell,  1755,  give  the  same  impression. 
At  the  latter  date  Hatteras  Island  was  six  or  seven  times  larger  than  to-day. 

2 This  is  true  of  Joshua  Fry  and  Peter  Jefferson,  1755;  Robert  de  Van- 
goudy,  1755;  Emanuel  Powers,  1763;  William  Faden,  1793,  and  the  map 
with  Thomas  Jefferson's  Notes  on  Virginia. 

3 Pedro  Menendez,  Morquez,  1573. 


SURROUNDINGS  AND  SITE  OP  RALEIGIl’s  COLONY.  53 

I doubt  if  anyone  could  go  over  the  coast  without  and 
within  and  not  reach  the  conclusion  that  the  most  probable 
landfall  of  the  first  navigators  drawing  up  from  the  south 
would  be  the  shoals  which  make  off  from  Capes  Fear  and 
Hatteras,  and  that  these  would  hold  them  too  far  away  to  make 
auy  inlet  until  they  reached  the  distinct  break  in  the  coast 
line  marked  and  given  the  name,  with  good  reason,  as  Trinity 
Harbor  on  the  coast,  and  that  this  lay  at  a point  cut  by  various 
inlets,  of  which  Oregon,  far  to  the  south  of  the  old  opening,  is 
to-day  the  solitary  representative,  but  which  then  was  in  the 
condition  whose  traces  are  now  apparent  in  the  region  just 
described.  To  Mr.  W.  L.  Welsh  must  be  given  credit  for  call- 
ing attention  to  this  point  first  named  by  William  Byrd.1 

The  crucial  argument  in  favor  of  entrance  north  of  Roanoke 
is  that  the  island  is  always  approached  from  this  direction. 
It  was  at  the  “ north  end  thereof”  that  Barlowe  found  “ a vil- 
lage of  nine  houses.”  If  he  had  approached  from  the  south 
he  would  have  noted  the  other  Indian  village,  whose  remains 
are  to-day  abundantly  visible  on  the  island  back  of  Round 
Ten  Oak  Island.  It  was  “ round  about  the  north  point  of  the 
island”  that  Ralph  Lane  sought  his  colony.  Moreover,  the 
upper  end  of  this  entrance  was  35  miles  (7  leagues)  from 
Roanoke  Island.  Collington,  then  of  larger  size,  furnishes  the 
first  island  of  Amadas  and  Barlowe.  Approached  from  the  sea 
it  would  seem  the  mainland,  and  on  it  the  tradition  repeated  by 
Byrd  places  the  scene  of  taking  possession  of  the  land.  More- 
over, starting  from  this  point,  with  the  prevalent  wind  of  the 
region,  it  would  be  easy  to  run  to  the  mainland  “20  miles” 
away,  the  Alligator  River,  Occam,  nearer  here  than  Roanoke, 
and  from  thence  to  seek  Roanoke.  Coining  from  the  south, 
Roanoke  would  be  almost  certainly  the  first  landing  made  in 
the  Sound.  “Kendrick’s  Mounts”  are,  in  all  probability,  the 
conspicuous  sand  hills  near  Nags  Head,  the  highest  on  the 
coast,  100  feet  high,  and  to-day  marked  objects  and  fronting 
dangerous  shoals.  Kor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  while  in  this 
century  and  in  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  the  inlets  of 
Pamlico  Sound  have  been  the  chief  channels  of  commerce,  in 
the  seventeenth  century  and  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth 

'“Not  far  from  Roanoke  Inlet.  They  ventured  ashore  near  that  place 
upon  an  island  now  called  Colleton,  where  they  set  up  the  arms  of  Eng- 
land.” (William  Byrd,  Notes,  p.  12.) 


54 


AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 


Albemarle  was  the  more  accessible  sheet  of  water.  The  balance 
of  evidence  of  record,  of  tradition,  and  of  physical  conditions 
is  therefore  all  in  favor  of  an  entrance  at  some  iidet,  which 
even  in  Byrd’s  time  had  disappeared,  north  of  Roanoke  Island 
and  not  far  from  Codington  Island. 

This  approach  decided  the  point  at  which  the  two  colonies 
planted  by  Raleigh  were  established  on  the  higher  ground  at 
the  northern  end  of  the  island,  where  a low,  quadrangular 
mound  has  been  identified  since  1654  as  its  site.  This  island, 
which  is  now  12  miles  by  3 and  was  three  centuries  ago  16 
miles  long  and  a half  mile  or  more  wide,  is  entered  at  the 
northwest,  on  the  side  toward  Croatan  Sound,  by  the  Alder 
Branch  below  Weirs  Point,  and  on  the  eastern  face  by  Shallow 
Bag  Bay,  on  which  now  stands  the  little  village  of  Mauteo, 
and  about  which  Daniel  Baum  and  other  early  settlers  lived 
when  the  island  was  reoccupied.  This  harbor  is  the  natural 
site  for  a settlement  on  the  island.  If  another  was  earlier 
selected,  it  was  for  reasons  due  to  the  approach  and  the  site 
of  existing  Indian  villages.  Indian  remains  are  numerous  on 
Roanoke  Island  and  their  careful  study  would  probably  do 
much  to  solve  two  important  problems,  the  advance  of  the 
early  red  man  along  the  coast  and  the  first  contact  of  his  last 
descendants  with  the  white  man. 

Four  recent  Indian  village  sites  were  examined  by  me,  one 
at  the  southern  end,  where  extensive  shell  mounds  have  been 
reduced  in  extent  by  their  use  as  an  easy  fertilizer,  but  on 
which  a clearly  marked  mound,  600  by  200  feet  in  size,  fronts 
on  an  old  canal  or  waterway  cut  through  the  swamp  for  a 
mde.  Another  extensive  Indian  deposit  is  on  Baums  Point,1 
most  of  which  has  been  eaten  away  by  the  encroachment  of 
the  sound  on  the  island,  which  a few  years  ago,  about  1870  to 
1875,  laid  bare  a number  of  Indian  skeletons. 

Opposite  this  point,  across  the  mouth  of  Shallow  Bag  Bay, 
is  Ballast  Point.  Off  this  marshy  projection  is  a mass  of 
stones  under  from  3 to  4 feet  of  water,  covering  a space  about 

‘This  is  the  point  now  known  as  Dolhys  Point,  on  which  Martin  (1:  35) 
places  “the  stump  of  a live  oak  said  to  have  been  the  tree  on  which  this 
word  (Croaton)  was  cut,  was  shown  as  late  as  the  year  1778  by  the  people 
of  Roanoke  Island.  It  stood  at  the  distance  of  about  6 yards  from  the 
shore  of  Shalon-bas-hay,  on  the  land  then  owned  by  Daniel  Baum.  This 
bay  is  formed  by  Ballast  Point  and  Baums  Point.”  Baum’s  descendant, 
Mr.  B.  F.  Meekin,  now  holds  the  site  of  the  original  Baum  farm. 


SURROUNDINGS  AND  SITE  OF  RALEIGH’S  COLONY.  55 

40  by  20  feet.  These  stones  tradition  tor  over  a century  has 
alleged  to  be  ballast  from  Ealeigh’s  first  two  vessels.  They 
may  possibly  have  reached  this  point.  I procured  a quantity 
of  this  ballast.  It  is  made  up  of  round  and  angular  stones  of 
quartzite,  porphyritic  rock,  and  greenstone  of  a few  pounds  of 
weight,  some  cleaved.  It  looks  extremely  like  the  raw  mate- 
rial of  an  Indian  workshop  for  the  manufacture  of  arrowheads 
and  stone  axes,  but  I suspend  judgment  awaiting  a competent 
mineralogical  determination  of  the  material; 

A third  Indian  settlement  is  on  the  northeastern  angle  of  the 
* island,  much  of  which  has  also  been  gradually  swept  away  by 
the  sound  and  the  shifting  sand  dunes.  The  most  important 
Indian  remains  are,  however,  the  mounds  on  the  Alder  Branch, 
which  stand  about  100  yards  south  of  the  corduroy  bridge, 
thrown  over  the  creek  during  the  war,  and  part  of  u Burnside 
avenue.”1  This  low,  but  clearly  artificial,  mound  contains 
closely  packed  in  a sitting  posture  a great  number  of  skeletons 
so  decomposed  that  no  bones  can  be  extracted  and  only  the 
general  outlines  of  the  skull  vertebra?  and  femora  traced.  A 
single  trench  of  several  opened,  24  feet  square,  showed  twelve 
of  these  skeletons  on  its  four  faces. 

White’s  sketches  show  that  the  Indians  of  the  region  kept 
their  dead  in  huts,  where  they  were  exposed  to  smoke,  as  was 
the  case  in  Florida,  and  it  is  interesting  to  have  this  corrobo- 
rative proof  that  in  addition  the  bodies  were  packed  closely 
together  and  heaped  about  with  sand.  It  is  also  an  interest- 
ing circumstance  that  the  Alder  Branch,  at  an  early  date  and 
one  apparently  anterior  to  white  occupation,  had  been  cut  to  a 
straight  course  and  the  earth  heaped  on  its  southern  bank. 
Similar  artificial  waterways  are  to  be  found  in  east  Florida. 
This  mound  probably  marks  the  neighborhood  of  the  Indian 
village  found  by  Barlowe,  as  the  Alder  Branch  makes  a natural 
boat  entrance  to  anyone  approaching  as  he  did  from  the  main- 
land opposite.  Besides  these  surface  remains,  there  are  on 
the  northeastern  shores  of  the  island,  where  careless  denuda- 
tion of  forest  has  set  the  sand  in  motion,  two  earlier  horizons 
of  Indian  occupation,  one  8 and  the  other  about  15  feet  below 

1 This  is  upon  the  land  of  Charles  Pettigrew  Meekin,  near  the  “ Indian 
hole,”  a large  artificial  cavity,  20  yards  across  and  30  feet  deep,  mentioned 
in  deeds  for  many  years  and  an  early  landmark.  Neither  this  nor  the 
mounds  can  be  due  to  operations  in  the  war. 


56 


AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 


tlie  present  surface,  the  latter  clearly  marked  and  extending 
for  a mile  or  two,  with  frequent  lire  pits  and  pottery  fragments 
of  the  fish-net  type. 

When  the  colonists  landed  under  Grenville  and  under  Lane 
they  came  from  the  north,  as  Barlowe  had.  They  would  natu- 
rally enter  at  the  same  creek  and  push  their  boats  up  the  mile 
or  more  which  it  was  navigable  down  to  the  memory  of  men 
now  living,1  shipbuilding  on  a small  scale  having  been  carried 
on  at  its  head  in  the  last  century,  as  the  oak  chips,  blocks,  etc., 
w7liich  can  be  turned  up  show,  although  the  stream  is  now  a 
dense  marsh  of  tall  reed.  They  sought  for  their  new  home  the* 
highest  ground  on  the  island,  upon  which  stand  such  remains 
as  are  left,  a site  carefully  designated,  it  may  be  noted,  by  White 
by  a mark  O,  distinct  from  that  used  to  indicate  the  Indian 
villages  on  the  island. 

That  this  was  the  approach  to  the  colony,  and  not  by  Shal- 
low Bag  Bay,  as  the  traditional  oak  tree  would  have  indicated, 
appears  from  Lane’s  account  of  his  return  to  the  island.  Com- 
ing from  the  sea  side,  he  first  “espied  toward  the  north  end  of 
the  island  the  light  of  a great  fire.”  Landing  at  daybreak,  he 
“went  through  the  woods  to  that  part  of  the  island  directly 
over  against  Dasamonguepeuk  ” — that  is,  the  western  or  Croatan 
Sound  side — and  “from  thence  we  returned  by  the  water  side 
round  about  the  north  part  of  the  island  until  we  came  to  the 
place  where  I left  our  colony  in  15S6,”  which  would  be  the 
nearest  approach  from  the  eastern  side  of  Roanoke  Island  to 
the  existing  fort.  It  was  here  on  the  “sandy  bank”  that  he 
found  the  tree  “in  the  very  brow  of  -which  were  curiously 
carved  these  fair  Roman  letters,  C.  R.  O.”  From  the  fort  he 
“wTent  along  by  the  water  side  to  the  point  of  the  creek,”  which 
is  more  likely  to  be  the  Alder  Branch,  half  a mile  off,  than  the 
creek  of  Shallow  Bog  Bay,  3 miles  distant.  “Presently,”  con- 
tinues Lane,  “ Captain  Cooke  and  I went  to  the  place,  -which  was 
in  the  end  of  an  old  trench,  made  two  years  past  by  Captain 
Amadas.”  “Two  years  past”  must  be  a misprint  for  six  years 
past,  when  Captain  Amadas  visited  the  place  in  1584;  and  as 
it  is  difficult  to  see  what  digging  lie  could  have  done  on  his 
flying  visit,  it  does  not  appear  a forced  construction  to  take 
“made”  in  the  seafaring  sense  of  “found,”  and  the  “old 
trench,”  the  canalled  stream  of  which  I have  already  spoken. 

!I  owe  much  in  these  details  to  the  kindly  interest  and  the  local  knowl- 
edge of  Mr.  Walter  Dough,  long  the  owner  of  the  fort  site. 


SURROUNDINGS  AND  SITE  OF  RALEIGH’S  COLONY.  57 

Into  tlie  details  of  Lane’s  melancholy  visit,  whose  pathos 
must  have  touched  every  reader,  I do  not  enter,  because  I 
propose  to  confine  myself  to  the  topographical  aspects  of  the 
history.  On  the  site  itself,  while  the  colonists  were  “left  in 
sundry  houses”  originally  built  by  Grenville’s  colonists,  Lane 
found  “the  houses  taken  down  and  the  place  very  strongly 
inclosed  with  a high  palisade  of  great  trees,  with  curtains  and 
flankers  very  fortlike.”  It  is  this  for  which  the  low,  square 
mound,  still  preserved,  now  stands.  Few  sites  are  better 
established  by  tradition.  In  1654  Travis  Yardley  records  the 
visit  of  “a  trader  for  beavers,”  in  September,  1653,  to  Roanoke 
Island,  where  he  was  shown  “the  ruins  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh’s 
fort”  by  friendly  Indians.1  The  island  was  bought  from  the 
Indians  by  Yardley,  and  in  1676  became  the  property  of  a 
Yew  Englander.  A gap  of  a century  leaves  it  without  record. 
The  local  tradition  runs  back  clearly  authenticated  to  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  and  there  were  then  living  those 
who  could  by  one  or  two  removes  have  heard  the  Indian  tra- 
dition noted  by  Yardley. 

When  I visited  the  site  in  November,  1887,  I could  find  no 
record  of  any  description  since  that  made  in  1860  by  Mr. 
Edward  0.  Bruce,  to  whose  article  allusion  lias  already  been 
made.  Judging  from  his  account,  it  has  seen  few  changes  in 
thirty-five  years,  though  all  the  brick  and  mortar  he  mentions 
is  gone.  It  is  a quadrangular  embankment  whose  angles  lie 
due  north  and  south  and  east  and  west,  so  that  the  faces  front 
southeast,  northeast,  northwest,  and  southwest.  The  mound, 
which  is  perfectly  clear  around  the  entire  inclosure,  is  2 feet  4 
inches  high  above  the  ditch  at  its  most  prominent  point.  The 
eastern  angle  has  a slope  of  23  feet  on  the  angles  and  about  15 
feet  on  the  curtains,  and  is  broken  by  what  was  apparently  a 
sally  port  crossing  the  southwest  angle,  the  one  turned  toward 
the  creek  already  mentioned.  The  four  faces  measure:  The 
southeastern,  84.3  feet;  the  southwestern,  77.6  feet;  the  north- 
western, 63.3  feet,  and  the  northeastern,  73.9  feet.  As  the 
mound  is  irregular,  these  measurements  are  necessarily  ap- 
proximate. By  measuring  from  points  on  the  irregular  slope 
farther  in  or  farther  out,  different  dimensions  would  be  secured, 
but  it  was  probably  originally  a square  of  25  yards. 

The  eastern  angle  is  a right  angle,  without  any  signs  of  a 
bastion  whatever.  Each  face  is  broken  by  an  angle  about  15 


1 North  Carolina  Colonial  Records,  1 : 18. 


58 


AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 


to  18  feet  across  and  projecting  from  tlie  embankment  line 
about  5 to  7 feet.  The  southern,  western,  and  northern  angles 
are  bastioned.  These  may  have  anticipated  the  pentagonal 
bastion  of  a century  later ; but  this  is  extremely  improbable 
of  Elizabethan  fort  builders,  more  familiar  with  the  earlier 
roundel,  better  suited  for  the  trajectory  and  angle  of  the  pro- 
jectiles of  the  period. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  bastions  themselves  to  show  that 
they  were  j>entagons,  unless  one  reads  into  them  a preconcep- 
tion based  on  our  familiarity  with  this  form.  The  interior  is 
nearly  on  a level  with  the  embankment,  but  at  points  slightly 
lower.  The  oak  mentioned  by  Mr.  Bruce  still  stands,  though 
aging.  The  other  trees  are  more  recent,  and  none  are  of  any 
great  age. 

The  most  serious  challenge  which  must  be  addressed  to  this 
ancient  relic  is  its  size.  An  area  of  625  square  yards  is  scant 
space  for  over  100  souls  who  composed  the  beleaguered  colony 
for  which  it  was  built.  As  the  houses  had  been  taken  down, 
it  was  their  only  dwelling,  and  while  it  is  not  impossible  that 
it  would  hold  them  in  leaguer,  one  would  expect  the  fort  would 
be  larger.  It  is  also  rigorously  fair  to  add  that  the  remains 
have  the  look,  slope,  and  appearance  of  smaller  Indian  mounds, 
some  of  which  are  quadrangular  and  are  laid  with  reference  to 
the  four  cardinal  points.  If  this  embankment  were  in  an  In- 
dian mound  region,  with  no  other  history,  it  would  probably  be 
given  this  origin  ; but  with  the  chain  of  evidence  which  exists, 
broken  though  it  be  by  the  gap  of  a hundred  years,  there 
appears  to  be  no  reason  for  challenging  its  assigned  source. 

So  far  as  is  known,  the  surface  has  been  disturbed  only  once 
prior  to  the  excavations  just  conducted.  During  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  island  by  Federal  soldiers  in  1863  holes  were  dug 
in  the  embankment  at  the  eastern  angle  and  on  the  south- 
eastern face.  On  complaint  by  Mr.  Walter  Dough,  who  then 
owned  the  fort,  the  vandalism  was  promptly  checked  and  the 
fort  placed  under  military  guard.  It  was  probably  at  this 
time  that,  the  hatchet  mentioned  by  Mr.  Weeks  in  his  paper 
was  found.  With  the  exception  of  the  Indian  pottery  and 
the  small  iron  fragments  just  discovered,  this  is  the  only  object 
yet  found  in  the  inclosure. 

As  a careful  examination  of  the  site  seemed  desirable,  I made 
application  to  its  present  owner,  the  Roanoke  Memorial  Asso- 
ciation, and  from  its  president,  Maj.  Graham  Daves,  and  its 


SURROUNDINGS  AND  SITE  OF  RALEIGH’S  COLONY.  59 

secretary,  Dr.  J.  B.  Bassett  received  prompt  and  cordial  per- 
mission to  conduct  excavations.  I was  careful  to  avoid  any 
disturbance  of  the  embankment  and  its  slope,  the  surface  dis- 
turbed was  carefully  returned  to  its  original  condition,  the 
site  of  each  trench  was  carefully  plotted  and  fixed  by  bearings 
and  measurements,  and  a minute  record  kept  and  deposited 
with  the  association,  so  that  no  injury  would  be  done  to  the 
site  and  no  embarrassment  caused  to  any  future  explorer  by 
his  inability  to  know  where  the  soil  was  disturbed.  In  all, 
13  trenches,  most  of  them  5 by  3 feet,  were  opened  and  carried 
from  4 to  9 feet  deep. 

Water,  it  may  be  premised,  is  reached  at  15  feet,  and  undis- 
turbed sand  at  about  4 feet.  Wherever  trenches  were  sunk, 
and,  it  is  fair  to  conclude,  over  the  entire  area,  there  was  found 
a thin  and  undisturbed  layer  of  sandy  humus  of  6 to  8 inches  to 
a foot,  then  a layer  of  black,  ashy  earth,  containing  many  frag- 
ments of  charcoal  and  frequent  fire  pits.  This  layer  rested 
directly  on  undisturbed  sand,  often  penetrated  by  fire  pits. 
If  we  imagine  a forest  surface  from  which  the1  original  humus 
had  been  removed  to  make  an  embankment,  laying  bare  the 
sand  below,  this  site  occupied  for  a season  and  then  for  three 
centuries  left  to  gather  humus  again,  the  condition  revealed 
would  be  created.  Toward  the  base  of  the  black,  ashy  layer 
were  found  small  pieces  of  iron,  a corroded  nail,  a chipped 
piece  of  quartzite,  and  some  small  fragments  of  Indian  pottery, 
networked.  No  one  could  reasonably  expect  rto  find  any 
objects  of  importance  on  a site  ransacked  as  this  must  have 
been,  but  I confess  my  surprise  at  the  absence  of  small  frag- 
ments, particularly  of  pottery.  For  a site  occupied  as  it  was, 
the  place  proved  singularly  barren  of  debris.  Like  its  size, 
this  circumstance  has  no  ready  explanation.  The  trenches 
opened  were  dug  in  three  angles,  the  eastern,  northern,  and 
western — the  southern  being  too  much  occupied  by  trees — 
across  the  center  in  two  of  the  flanking  bastions,  and  at  other 
points  where  the  surface  was  either  above  or  below  the  normal 
level. 

In  addition,  the  embankment  was  sounded  with  an  iron  rod 
for  a depth  of  from  3 to  4 feet  at  intervals  of  from  10  to  20  feet 
around  the  inclosure.  The  embankment  may  have  had  logs 
in  it  which  have  wholly  decayed,  but  the  indications  were 
that  it  was  heaped  sand,  the  dark  ashy  layer  curving  over 
its  slopes.  Excavations  were  also  made  in  the  ditch  and  at 


60 


AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 


various  points  in  the  woods,  showing  there  an  undisturbed 
surface  and  no  remains  of  a layer  of  coal  and  ashes  below  the 
surface.  The  most  plausible  deduction  which  can  be  made 
from  these  sparse  results  is  that  the  site  was  occupied  at 
an  early  period  by  those  using  iron,  succeeded  by  many  years 
in  which  the  forest  did  its  natural  work  of  making  soil.  As 
a corroboration  of  the  tradition  in  regard  to  the  site,  this 
conclusion  is  important.  In  any  other  view  the  fruits  were 
meager ; but  the  fortune  of  excavation — of  all  pursuits  of  chance 
the  most  baffling  and  the  most  absorbing — may  richly  reward 
some  successor  with  more  time  than  the  brief  days  I could 
devote.  It  is  at  least  a profound  satisfaction,  for  which  I am 
most  grateful  to  the  officers  of  the  association,  to  have  had  the 
privilege  of  devoting  a short  vacation  to  increasing  the  scanty 
knowledge  previously  recorded  in  regard  to  the  earliest  site 
associated  with  the  history  of  men  of  our  race  and  tongue  on 
this  continent. 

The  site,  as  already  remarked,  is  now  the  property  of  the 
Roanoke  Colony  Memorial  Association.  With  this  last  chap- 
ter in  its  history,  there  rests  the  same  melancholy  associations 
as  with  all  before,  the  founder  of  the  association,  Edward 
Graham  Daves,  late  of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  having  died 
within  a year  of  its  organization.  In  November,  1887,  after 
my  first  visit  to  the  site,  when  I made  a compass  survey  of 
the  mound  and  a hurried  investigation  of  its  surroundings,  I 
stopped  at  Johns  Hopkins  University  on  my  return,  where  my 
account  of  the  remarkable  preservation  of  the  old  fort  excited 
the  interest  of  both  Hr.  Herbert  Baxter  Adams,  the  secretary 
of  the  American  Historical  Association,  and  of  Dr.  Daves. 

The  possibility  of  purchasing  the  site  was  discussed  at  the 
time,  but  no  active  steps  were  taken  until  March  25, 1893,  when 
a call 1 for  enough  money  to  buy  the  fort  and  a farm  of  250  acres 
on  the  northern  end  of  the  island  was  issued  by  Dr.  Daves,  a 
native  of  eastern  North  Carolina,  to  whose  personal  enthusi- 
asm as  an  historical  student  was  altogether  due  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  site,  the  organization  of  the  association,  and  the 
preservation  by  it  of  the  earliest  English  remains  on  the  con- 
tinent. The  modest  sum  needed,  $1,250,  was  raised  before  the 
end  of  the  year,  a large  portion  being  the  returns  of  author’s 


1 This  call  was  signed  by  Edward  Graham  Daves,  Francis  White,  Wil- 
liam Shepard  Bryan,  A.  Marshall  Elliott,  Bartlett  S.  Johnston,  and  Thomas 
J.  Boykin. 


SURROUNDINGS  AND  SITE  OF  RALEIGH’S  COLONY.  61 

readings  by  Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell  of  liis  poem,  “Francis  Drake,” 
at  Bar  Harbor,  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  the  residence  of  Mr. 
Frank  Thomson  at  Marion,  Pa.,  and  elsewhere.  May  22, 1893, 
the  Roanoke  Colony  Memorial  Association  was  organized  at 
Baltimore,  and  the  first  meeting  of  its  stockholders  was  held 
at  Raleigh  October  23, 1894,  a second  meeting  having  been  held 
last  October.  The  present  officers  of  the  association  are : Presi- 
dent, Maj.  Graham  Daves,  of  Newbern;  vice-president,  Mr. 
W.  D.  Prudeu,  Edenton,  N.  C.,  and  secretary  and  treasurer,  Dr. 
John  Spencer  Bassett,  of  Trinity  College,  Durham,  1ST.  C.  The 
association  now  owns  the  site,  with  10  acres,  and  a farm  of  230 
acres  covering  the  northern  end  of  the  island.  The  associa- 
tion proposes  to  fence  and  preserve  the  site,  erect  a monument 
upon  it,  and  draw  public  attention  to  its  history.  Contribu- 
tions for  this  purpose  are  urgently  needed. 

With  the  association  and  its  work,  the  history  of  the  site 
closes.  By  little  short  of  a miracle  of  accident  this  crumbling 
mound,  “ child  of  silence  and  slow  time,”  has  escaped  destruc- 
tion. The  elements  have  spared  it  on  an  island  where  the 
merest  exposure  of  the  loose,  thin  soil  starts  shifting  sauds  to 
pile  dunes  and  level  them.  The  plow  has  never  passed  over  its 
low  walls  and  it  has  escaped  the  ravages  of  the  relic  hunter. 
Even  the  war  found  officers  who  appreciated  its  value  and 
guarded  its  outlines.  A just  local  pride  has  shared  in  its  pres- 
ervation, and  the  first  sod  turned  by  English  hands  in  the 
Americas  stands  to-day  after  three  centuries  more  clearly 
marked  than  many  a later  site  and  more  ambitious  structure. 
The  low  mound,  scarce  higher  than  a grave,  will  rear  its  round 
outline  for  long  years  to  come.  The  beginning  of  the  birth  of  a 
great  people,  it  is  impossible  to  forget  that  it  was  also  the  sepul- 
cher of  the  hopes,  the  fortune,  and  the  future  of  W alter  Raleigh, 
brightest  blossom  of  our  English  renaissance.  About  this 
low  heap  centered  once  the  plans  of  a kingdom,  the  promise 
of  a principality,  and  the  prospect  of  enduring  fame. 

“ the  lion  and  the  lizard  keep 

The  courts  where  Jamshyd  gloried  and  drank  deep : 

And  Bahram,  that  great  hunter — the  wild  ass 
Stamps  o’er  his  head  hut  can  not  break  his  sleep.” 


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